From the creation of ​Titus Andronicus ​to the creation of ​The Two Noble Kinsmen, ​William

Shakespeare has indisputably become one of the most well known authors in history and a clear master in
archaic language. William Shakespeare’s documented birth date was sometime in April, 1564, in
Stratford-Upon-Avon, United Kingdom. Born in the Elizabethan era, or Golden age, a time in which
English language was not as simplified as seen in modern language through the use of acronyms and
images, archaic English existed during Shakespeare’s life, including a whole different way of living.
Shakespeare rose in popularity as he represented this anachronistic way of living and speaking through
the scenarios and phraseology depicted in his writings, which captivated the minds of those viewing his
plays and reading his playwrights. In one of his most famous pieces,​ The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of
Venice, ​Shakespeare introduces one of these anachronistic scenarios through the character Iago. Iago, a
cunning mischief who wishes to take revenge on the general of the Venetian army, Othello, for not giving
him a position in the army he found as best fitting for him. Iago then does so by framing Cassio, the man
who took his position, for having an affair with Othello’s wife Desdemona. Eventually, the story ends
with Othello killing Desdemona for this fake affair, discovering the truth, and then torturing Iago until the
death and killing himself for his actions directly after. Although a scenario of this magnitude was relevant
in Shakespearean time, the debate on whether these literary works of Shakespeare’s are relevant to
modern era continues to burn through the decades. Some argue teaching Shakespeare in schools is
beneficial to the minds of students as it exposes them to the societal issues of pre-modern times while
others believe Shakespeare’s literary works introduce topics irrelevant to the academic process of
common core. Shakespeare is in fact still relevant to modern-day as students may refer to his masterful
literary techniques in order to improve themselves in their academic writings and historians may refer to
such archaic passages in order to gain valuable insight on the culture of the past.

Through referencing Shakespeare’s masterful development of characters in his works, students

may learn how to better their own writings and gain meaningful knowledge on literary practices. Of many
of Shakespeare’s works, ​Othello​ presents masterful use of character development and the use of pathos as
Shakespeare is able to effectively manipulate Iago’s character and actions in a way that engages the
audience and makes the audience judge Iago poorly. Starting off by presenting Iago as trickster when he
attempts to use Cassio to break up Othello’s relationship, saying that “​with as little a web as this will I /
ensnare as great a fly as Cassio” (Shakespeare 71), then developing him into a inconsiderate character
when he compares Othello and Desdemona to “well tuned” string instruments that he can easily
manipulate the heart strings of (Shakespeare 73), and from there even further into a character the audience
views as inimical when he forces Cassio into a drunk fight so people may get hurt and he may lose his
position, mentioning that if he “can fasten but one cup upon him / With that which he hath drunk tonight
already, / He’ll be as full of quarrel and offense / As my mistress’ dog” (Shakespeare 85). Shakespeare
was able to effectively develop a character in such a short amount of text and plot while not
overcomplicating his character and swaying the audience’s view on Iago negatively. Despite being
written in such archaic terms and ages ago, the process of writing and developing characters has remained
overall the same and this form of masterful writing technique can still be utilized to this day to better a
student’s writing. Therefore, students may refer to these methods used by Shakespeare to better their
writing despite the difference in time, in fact displaying that Shakespeare’s works are still relevant to this
modern day.
 Although not necessarily a common practice, reading Shakespearean dramas allows for historians
to be able to gain more knowledge and insight into the culture of the Elizabethan era and as a result may
be utilized in order to expand knowledge on the development of society over the years. One of the major
reasons Shakespeare was so successful is that a majority of his texts were relatable to the society he lived
in. Presented in​ Othello,​ S
​ hakespeare depicts the Elizabethan view on cheating when Desdemona asks
Othello “what ignorant sin” she had committed to deserve Othello’s rage (197). Othello replies by saying
“Was this fair paper, this goodly book, / Made to write ‘whore’ upon? What committed?” (Shakespeare
197). Shakespeare clearly depicts cheating as a mortal sin for his time era, and even further develops this
when he ends the plot of​ Othello ​with him killing Desdemona for cheating​.​ However, cheating in modern
day has changed from being a sin to being a common practice that is typically left unpunished. In modern
day, many high schoolers can cheat on their lover and instead of getting killed for it, in most cases, people
just leave that person. Cheating occurs so much that the meaning behind cheating and the meaning behind
a stable relationship has died out, and is not as much of a grave sin as it was in Shakespeare's time.
Historians and anthropologists can get a deeper understanding into the life of the Elizabethan age through
Shakespeare’s works and can use his works as accurate firsthand accounts of that era. Through analyzing
Shakespeare’s view on life and relation to society, historians and anthropologists can teach the
development of society to schools and students accurately. Therefore, it can be said that Shakespearean
works are in fact relevant to this day.

On the contrary, others may argue Shakespeare’s works as irrelevant as they utilize archaic
hard-to-read language that some teachers do not master and could allow for inaccurate representation of
facts to students. A prime example of when such language is used is when Shakespeare writes from
Othello’s perspective, saying “O thou pernicious caitiff! / How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief /
That was my wife’s?” (261). This type of outdated speech can be seen as irrelevant as it is not used in
modern day speech and therefore can be hard to understand, learn, and teach. This is further built upon
when Dana Dusbiber, a veteran English teacher at the well-known Luther Burbank High School in
Sacramento, California, states her opinion on teaching Shakespeare’s works. Dusbiber states “I am a high
school English teacher. I am not supposed to dislike Shakespeare. But I do. And not only do I dislike
Shakespeare because of my own personal disinterest in reading stories written in an early form of the
English language that I cannot always easily navigate, but also because there is a WORLD of really
exciting literature out there that better speaks to the needs of my very ethnically-diverse and wonderfully
curious modern-day students.” Regardless of college major or knowledge, some teachers have a hard time
understanding and teaching Shakespeare due to the language and may in fact misinform students on the
meaning of certain words and the context of the text, halting their academic development and presenting a
viable reason as to why Shakespeare is irrelevant. However, this can be easily refuted with the fact that
the whole point of reading Shakespeare and the language involved is to expand the mind and in time
become comfortable with the language and understanding. The terminology used in Shakespeare gave
way for the integration of common everyday phrases to be adapted into Modern English, and for this
reason, it is important to understand the roots of such phrases and to better comprehend archaic language
in order to be able to know the meanings and contexts of words when they appear. Tanner David Harris of
California State University at Bakersfield mentions that, “​Yes, it is sometimes a bit tricky to understand
since we don't speak like the Victorian English anymore. But we're not exactly talking about Beowulf
here (trust me on that), and many scholars assign that language as early modern English. So if you speak
English, you can read Shakespeare. Granted it may take learning some new words and small grammar
rules, but those are easy hurdles once you get the hang of it. Another thing is that many people don't seem
to recognize the full scope of his contributions. Many words and phrases we commonly use like ‘eyeball’,
‘lackluster’, ‘fashionable’, ‘in a pickle’, ‘wild goose chase’, and ‘one fell swoop’ all come from one of
Shakespeare's plays, and he invented many more.” The relevance of Shakespeare in modern time is as
high as ever, and through analyzing his readings one is able to expand their knowledge on the vocabulary
of the time and learn more about where most of the everyday phrases society uses without thinking
originated from.

The relevance of Shakespeare in present-day is almost exactly as relevant as his works were in
the Elizabethan age. Through teaching the young of the twenty-first-century valuable and indispensible
literary techniques that can be used to better their writings and be built upon, and through presenting
accurate historical insight into the development of societal issues between the Elizabethan age and now
that can be utilized by historians to better understand how culture has progressed, it is clear that
Shakespeare has been an influential and important contributor to society for centuries. The works of
Shakespeare are sold and acted out to this day, and with that sort of representation comes the need for his
works to be taught for generations to come so students of all time periods may understand the roots of the
Modern English and the importance of Shakespeare on the development of literature. As one can see,
Shakespeare is still relevant in Contemporary English times as students may refer to such works in order
to enhance their writing process and is still relevant as historians may source such writings in order to
develop greater knowledge on the development of society into contemporary times.

Bibliography
Harris, Tanner. ​“Is Shakespeare Still Relevant?”​ Indianapolis: Odyssey Media Group, 2017. Web. 30
March, 2018.

Shakespeare, William.​ ​The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. ​Washington, District of Columbia:
Folger Shakespeare Library, 2004.

Strauss, Valerie. ​“Teacher: Why I don’t want to assign Shakespeare anymore (even though he’s in the
Common Core).” ​Washington, District of Columbia: Washington Post, 2015. Web. 30 March, 2018.